Prize Distribution Rules Question

I had written about this in another post but it seems to not have been the right place so I am starting a new thread.
I would like to see there be some clarification about how the prize distribution works.
The rules say:

***
Each round consists of the following steps:

1. First place in the â€œBest Overall Gameâ€ category will select one prize from the pool.
2. Second place in the â€œBest Overall Gameâ€ category will select one prize from the pool.
3. Third place in the â€œBest Overall Gameâ€ category will select one prize from the pool.
4. The first place winners in each of the five categories will then each select one prize from the pool, in order of descending overall score.
5. The second place winners in each of the five categories will then each select one prize from the pool, in order of descending overall score.
6. The third place winners in each of the five categories will then each select one prize from the pool, in order of descending overall score.

No winner may select a prize from the pool more than once per â€œround.â€

***

Which means that whether a game placed in only one of the winning categories or in many of them, the devs for that game would get to choose the same number of prizes in each round as any other winner. So with ten winners, each round will give out only ten prizes. Is that correct?
I have seen in more than one thread where there seemed to be a different understanding than this and I myself didn't realize what the rules said until I decided to take a close look.
Could Carlos or someone else with accurate knowledge of the system please clarify this?

Here's a thought - regardless of the ranking system (median, mean, drop highest/lowest etc.) perhaps a fairer way of distributing prizes would be to rather than do 'rounds' of distribution among the top 3 as it is currently to do the current first round of distribution:

1. First place in the â€œBest Overall Gameâ€ category will select one prize from the pool.
2. Second place in the â€œBest Overall Gameâ€ category will select one prize from the pool.
3. Third place in the â€œBest Overall Gameâ€ category will select one prize from the pool.
4. The first place winners in each of the five categories will then each select one prize from the pool, in order of descending overall score.
5. The second place winners in each of the five categories will then each select one prize from the pool, in order of descending overall score.
6. The third place winners in each of the five categories will then each select one prize from the pool, in order of descending overall score.

Then:

7. Fourth place in the 'Best Overall Game' selects one prize
8. The fourth place winners in each of the five categories select on prize, in order of descending overall score
9. Then repeat the previous two steps for fifth, sixth, seventh places until the prize pool is exhausted.

For me, I think this solves the key issue that I have - that a small number of winners walk away with all the prizes. After all, the 9 devs that placed 1st to 3rd in each categories ultimately got there because they DO deserve it! But I think the poor people in the 4th, 5th, 6th places should get something.

However, with this system, the highest place winners get to choose the best prizes (and get first choice), but those just outside the top places get something for their efforts (even if it's only a smaller prize).

Also, if we could have got a 'door' prize, like the Cocoa Programming books that were given out in 2004(?) that would be great. I feel it's a real demotivation to work on something for 3 months and get absolutely zilch in return. After all part of the aim of the contest is to motivate devs.

Actually there do appear to be some good "door prizes":
*M Cubed Software Code Collector Pro (however many licences you need)

*Graphic Remedy We offer licenses of the new gDEBugger Mac product to ALL uDevGames contest participants for the duration of the contest (until March 10, 2009).

*GUD Publishing Inaugural Issue (PDF) given to every qualifying entrant to uDevGames 2008.

BTW, I don't know if my case is the norm, but my guess is that the other devs who have submitted their prize list have done something similar: I listed the items I really want and can use and did not at all list many other items (even some pricey ones) that I thought I don't have time to use or that they would really benefit others a lot more. If the other devs have done that then I think there would be some valuable prizes left for "non-winners" even under the current distribution rules.

Speaking of which, how will prize pool work? Will Carlos just take everyone's list and run through them in order, and ship off the appropriate prizes? Or do the winners have involvement in the picking(aside from sending in their prize list)?

It seems as though the latter could move rather slowly, but the former seems as though it would make it hard to coordinate prize distribution(i.e diordna gets modo, mattness gets C4D).

Hairball183 Wrote:Speaking of which, how will prize pool work? Will Carlos just take everyone's list and run through them in order, and ship off the appropriate prizes? Or do the winners have involvement in the picking(aside from sending in their prize list)?

I've always been under the impression the winners and their list would be gone thru in order, without any further input from the winner: When a winners time-to-pick came up, the highest ranked prize on their list still available is what they would get for that round.

Other than ranking something higher or lower on your list, so there's more of a chance someone else might get it, there's no way to influence who gets what.

pinguoren Wrote:BTW, I don't know if my case is the norm, but my guess is that the other devs who have submitted their prize list have done something similar: I listed the items I really want and can use and did not at all list many other items (even some pricey ones) that I thought I don't have time to use or that they would really benefit others a lot more. If the other devs have done that then I think there would be some valuable prizes left for "non-winners" even under the current distribution rules.

I did the same.

Of the 90+ prizes, I put only 11 on my list: 5 that I could/would definitely use, 4 I would very likely use and 2 nice-to-haves (MacTech sub, BitRock installer).

I then put a note saying that if as my turns come around, if none of my desired prizes are still available I'll forfeit the rest of my picks.